Gaelic for please be quiet?

Subject: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST,Knappo
Date: 26 Nov 04 - 12:42 PM

I was in Kinvara this spring and at a session people would use a Gaelic term that I was told meant for people to quiet down so a singer could sing. I have forgotten this term; can anyone help with the word and the spelling? Thanks, Tom

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 26 Nov 04 - 12:46 PM

Besides the correct spelling, a phonetic spelling would be helpful for us dumb monoligual English-speakers. This would be a very helpful word to learn, second in importance only to slainte/slon-cha.

Thanks in advance.

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST,Betsy
Date: 26 Nov 04 - 12:53 PM

Try - "shutthefeckupwillya"

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Nov 04 - 12:58 PM

Bigi ciuin!

Be quiet! plural

or

Bi ciuin! singular

or simply

Ciuin!

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: MartinRyan
Date: 26 Nov 04 - 01:21 PM

"Ciúnas!" which is the (or at least "an"!) Irish word for "quiet" is frequently used in this way. Pronounce roughly "queue - nos".

Regards

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST,Bill Kennedy
Date: 26 Nov 04 - 02:18 PM

a more vulgar would be

Eist do bheal! literally - listen to your mouth!

can't do diacriticals, but first E is long - Aysht duh vale!

Ciunas! as above is more common

fanaigi ciuin! fun iggy cue in - stay quiet!

or fanaigi socair! fun iggy suck ear

maybe suaimhnigh sibhse! quieten yourselves!

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: mack/misophist
Date: 26 Nov 04 - 08:04 PM

My Grandmother spoke Dublin Gaelic. She always said something like "whissht" for shut up.

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: Fergie
Date: 26 Nov 04 - 09:20 PM

'Whist' is a corruption of the intruction 'Bí i do thost' which literally means 'be in your quiet'
Fergus

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: diesel
Date: 26 Nov 04 - 10:34 PM

Ciunas mar se do thoil = Quiet please (or correctly - quiet, if you please) : thoil : pronounced 'hol' (as in Hol-iday)
Ciunas = Quiet : 'Queue+ness'(as in like-ness)
Whisst - thans for the history Fergie - we use it - never knew its background
Dun do bheal = Shut (close) your mouth
Agus na bi ag caint = And don't be talking


rgds

Diesel

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Nov 04 - 12:28 AM

we were always told to "wheesht awheel"? I have no idea what the correct spelling was but we knew it meant, "Be quiet!" *BG*

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: Brían
Date: 27 Nov 04 - 12:16 PM

With those darned diacritial marks the phrases I've heard the most are:

Dún do bhéal(pronounced, DOON duh VAY-ul)

The plural for that would be:

Dúnaigí bhur bhéil, (DOON-uggy wur VAY-ul)

or:

Bí i do thost (pronounced, BEE ih duh HUST)

The plural for that would be:

Bígí i bhur dtost (pronounced, BEE-gee ih wur DUST)

Brían

Mere student of Gaeilge that I am.

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST,mongrel
Date: 27 Nov 04 - 03:16 PM

"wheesht awheel"

"awheel" = "a while" according to my nan ("I mebbe awheel") so it's a bilingual phrase then...

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Nov 04 - 03:36 PM

My primary school teacher used the expression Dún do chlab
(doon duh klab)which I think means close your beak

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST,Brendy
Date: 27 Nov 04 - 04:09 PM

If you're talking to a crowd of people (as you probably would be, if you were in a pub in Kinvara), the plural is appropriate.

In which case, the handiest way of saying it, would be "Ciúnas le bhur d'thoil"

B.

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST,Knappo
Date: 27 Nov 04 - 08:49 PM

Thank you all. As usual, much more information than I expected; I like that! I believe "Ciunas" was the expression used. Although,
"shutthefeckupwillya" gets my attention quicker. Thanks, Betsy.
Tom

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: CapriUni
Date: 28 Nov 04 - 10:23 AM

a more vulgar would be

Eist do bheal! literally - listen to your mouth!

That may be more vulgar than "Please, be quiet." But it is still good advice. So many of us rattle off out of habit, I think, that even we stop listening.


I love attending Mudcat School!

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST,erinmaidin/why am listed as a guest?!
Date: 28 Nov 04 - 10:47 AM

Wouldn't I love to be in a pub in Kinvara right now...and I'd be tellin' no one to be quiet! Sure don't I love the gossip!

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Nov 04 - 11:05 AM

A forthright 'bigi ciuin' is the one I've heard most often at sessions, followed by several 'whisst' from around the circle. It usually quiets things done well enough. I have heard 'ciuinas' but not near as often as 'bigi ciuin'. When I think 'ciuinas' I think an maistir scoile...

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: Noreen
Date: 28 Nov 04 - 05:12 PM

I remember the phrase Ciúnas anois (meaning quiet now) being used at fleadhanna cheoil, when the steward was trying to quieten the audience for the next performer.

anois pronounced unish

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Nov 04 - 06:54 PM

Cumail do theanga! (Scots Gaelic ) Hold your tongue!

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Nov 04 - 01:16 AM

Occasionally, "Éistigí!" Eshtigee. Listen!!

Seamus

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: Stephen R.
Date: 29 Nov 04 - 02:37 AM

Bill Kennedy, would you foe-netty-size suaimhnigh sibhse! quieten yourselves! as swanny shiv-sheh?

Stephen R., perpetually bemused by Irish and every other Celtic language.

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST,Not Bill... best wishes anyhow
Date: 29 Nov 04 - 04:17 AM

Soo-av-nee shiv-sheh

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 29 Nov 04 - 09:26 AM

So many "S"'s and "Sh"'s in all these variations.

Makes me wonder if the commonly-used "Shhh!" came into English usage from the Gaelic, by way of bilingual Irish (and/or Scots) people.

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Sep 08 - 06:53 PM

Here in scotland we say haud ta whishte

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Sep 08 - 06:56 PM

In old french we say ferme ta bye this is spelt how it should be pronounced, and not how it is spelt

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: The Sandman
Date: 28 Sep 08 - 06:17 AM

cuinis.is the term used round here.

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 28 Sep 08 - 06:27 AM

Modern French: Ferme la bouche usually contracted to just bouche is the exact equivalent of shutthefuckup.
I'm astonished to read that "Whisht (however it's spelt is Gaelic. It's very common in the North East of England (as in Whisht lads had yer gobs I'll tell yers all an awful story, the opening of The Lambton Worm. Could this be as a result of the immigration of conscripted Irish workers for Lord Londonderry's coal mines?

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 28 Sep 08 - 06:39 AM

"Ciúnas" is what they say here too (east Cork, and the good Cap'n is in west Cork), leading one visitor to think they were being told "Q-ness" as in, shorthand for "quietness". Ah well, whatever works...

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 28 Sep 08 - 08:03 AM

I think the more abrupt version in French of "Shut your gob" is "Ferme ta geule". La geule is the mouth of an animal, not of a person. There should be a circumflex I think.

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 28 Sep 08 - 08:16 AM

ta gueule (no circumflex) is VERY rude. It's heard in France but is mostly a Quebec expression.

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: Thompson
Date: 28 Sep 08 - 08:34 AM

If you want what you've asked for, literally, this is it:

Ciúnas, le bhúr dtoil

(KEWnuss, luhvoor dhill)

(Silence, please)

The 'dh' sound is the same as in the English word 'the'. The above is a plural request - in other words, it's what you say to two or more people - the 'your' is plural.

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 28 Sep 08 - 01:20 PM

Somebody once told be that the Scots Gaelic for 'quiet' was "Whose round is it?"
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 28 Sep 08 - 01:59 PM

It was in everyday use on the floor of the factory in Alsace where did my stage.

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: Santa
Date: 28 Sep 08 - 04:27 PM

"haud ta whishte" seems likelier to be from "hold your whistle", which I feel I was told many times, many years ago in the North East. Perhaps I should have listened.

Could there have been some cross-over?

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST,Tam
Date: 28 Sep 08 - 05:08 PM

The North East of where?

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: ard mhacha
Date: 28 Sep 08 - 05:10 PM

Whist=Eist, translation listen, information from an old Irish teacher.

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 28 Sep 08 - 05:24 PM

THE North East (of England) (as per my post of 06:27 today).
Where else would the Lambton Worm be?

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: Monique
Date: 28 Sep 08 - 05:28 PM

(Ferme)ta gueule / (Fermez) vos gueules is said all over France. We also say "Vos gueules, les mouettes" to many chattering people, but you wouldn't say that to an audience.

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST,NickE
Date: 28 Sep 08 - 08:16 PM

Audiences love to be told to shut up in any language, you will win them over by telling them to do so! Good luck on your showmanship!

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST,Tam
Date: 29 Sep 08 - 04:31 AM

I was referring to Santa's posting 28 Sep 08 - 04:27 PM. Without qualifying, how are we to know he was not referring to the North East of Britain?

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 29 Sep 08 - 04:37 AM

I like Kieran Hanrahan's "Best of order, please!" for a singer on Ceili House. Firm and polite! Not Gaelic though. Perhaps there's an equivalent in translation.

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST,Murphy
Date: 29 Sep 08 - 06:59 AM

As a child I remember "Sceal Sheadana" as a school book. An expression in that was "Eist do bheal no bascfar thu". How does "bascfar" translate?

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: MartinRyan
Date: 29 Sep 08 - 07:05 AM

From O'Domhnaill's dictionary:
basc , (v.t.). Bash, crush.

It's the autonymous verb, future (saorbhriathar, fháistineach to you and me!) so the sense is "Shut up or you'll be murdered!"

Regards

p.s. So probably not a good one to use on your audience!

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 29 Sep 08 - 07:12 AM

> From O'Domhnaill's dictionary:
basc , (v.t.). Bash, crush.

. . ."Shut up or you'll be murdered!"

Swap the vowels and you get Bush and Crash. Hmmm...

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST,HughM
Date: 29 Sep 08 - 08:08 AM

I noticed the expression "D/un do chlab" above and the references to N.E. England. If I remember rightly in one of Bob Davenport's songs someone is told to "haa'd yer big clapper".

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 29 Sep 08 - 08:39 AM

Cymraeg : Cau dy geg, diawl ! (Shut your gap, devil !)

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: Santa
Date: 29 Sep 08 - 09:34 AM

North East England. I did consider saying that at the time but in my experience people do not talk about coming from the North East of Britain or even, more reasonably perhaps, the North East of Scotland. Within the United Kingdom, the phrase "the North East" without further qualification can reasonably be taken as meaning that of England.

If you are non-UK in origin or residence, I accept that this will not have been obvious. My apologies to you.

Now is there any comment on the point I actually raised?

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST,Tam
Date: 29 Sep 08 - 09:58 AM

Thanks, Santa for your reply. However I think you mean that within England the phrase "the North East" without further qualification can reasonably be taken as meaning that of England. The bible for Scottish tradional students is called Folk Songs of the North East and does not refer to England. The assumption that we're always meaning England in our discussions here in the UK is one of arrogance.

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST,Bernadette
Date: 29 Sep 08 - 10:36 AM

My God preserve us...........all the intellectual snobbery re "please be quiet". When the question was asked "? GAELIC" (for the aforementioned phrase), was it Irish, Scottish, or ................?

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Sep 08 - 10:42 AM

You folks might like to know that the irish for a beak is 'gob'. So if you hear someone say, "cé acu is faide, gob an ghé nó gob an gandail? " you'll immediately know they mean that it's a case of 'six of one half a dozen of the other'.

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: MartinRyan
Date: 29 Sep 08 - 10:51 AM

The questioner was in KINVARA (Galway) where Scottish Gaelic is pretty scarce!

Regards

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 29 Sep 08 - 11:38 AM

What intellectual snobbery? There are polite ways and rude ways to tell people to be quiet. If it's not a language you speak, it's probably as well to know the difference in nuances. They can have quite contrasting effects on those around you.

Isn't opening with "My God preserve us" and criticising someone's usage when their meaning is clear a little snobbish too?

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Jan 09 - 02:31 PM

When we kids were talking out of turn and likely to reveal family-business before non-family visitors, we were told something that sounds like "nobby conch". could you give me the Gaelic spelling for this and the literal translation?

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: MartinRyan
Date: 05 Jan 09 - 03:36 PM

Probably "Ná bí ag caint" - which literally means "Don't be talking!" but translates as "Keep quiet!".

Pronunciation, using yours as a model would be "Nobby egg kaint!" or thereabouts.

Regards

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 05 Jan 09 - 10:54 PM

Thanks Martin, Would "Nobby egg kaint! be the way it is pronounced in Mayo? Is the pronunciation standard? It sounded to a Yank ear like "Na bi conch" Again, many thanks!

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 06 Jan 09 - 01:37 AM

Yorkshire version, ' oi thee, shut thi gob '

eric

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: MartinRyan
Date: 06 Jan 09 - 03:00 AM

GUEST, guest,

You have a good ear, alright! I would pronounce the closing consonant as a slenderised (not the right word, but I know what I mean!) t . Others, depending on the regional accent (their own or their schoolteacher's) would make it a "ch" sound, as in "chicken"!

Regards

p.s. To your ear, also, the "egg" has just been elided into near-silence...

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST,Leannach
Date: 08 Jun 10 - 02:35 AM

I have a similar question, and I found your forum while searching online.

Can anyone tell me some basic Gaelic phrases that one might hear in a pub? I am working on a poem, and I need a few words of Gaelic.

Thanks!

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 09:49 PM

that's the one ! I heard this from sun up to sun down in my house, growing up, thnx !

Subject: RE: Gaelic for please be quiet?
From: GUEST,tommydude2112
Date: 06 Aug 12 - 08:15 AM

Dún do bhéal agus na bi ag caint!

(pronounced: doon do veyl oguss nor bee egg coynt!)


Shut your mouth and don't talk!